Editor:

Dear Sen. Raphael Warnock: Imagine yourself sitting in a doctor’s office with your loved one and being told they have Alzheimer’s. You know this is a fatal disease with no cure and no interventions. You know that your loved one will lose their ability to communicate, to control their bodily functions, to remember how to dress themselves, how to eat or even walk and stand. And this will happen over years, not months. You are their primary caregiver. That was me in 2012. I was sent on my way with my husband beside me and no follow-up appointments, prescriptions, or specialists to see. Medicare offered no help because there would be no improvement. Social services didn’t exist for us either nor did our community offer any help or aid. If it hadn’t of been for the Alzheimer’s Association, I would have had absolutely no help at all.

I am asking you to change that reality for the hundreds of thousands of caregivers in Georgia and across our country. You can do that by agreeing to co-sponsor the bipartisan Alzheimer’s Caregiver Support Act (S.56/ H.R.1474), designed to provide much needed relief for our nation’s dementia caregivers. The Alzheimer’s Caregiver Support Act would provide grants to expand training and support services for unpaid caregivers of people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Through this bill, grantees including community health centers, senior centers, Area Agencies on Aging, and more, would reach diverse communities to provide this training and support for families and caregivers.

Bills like H.R. 1474 are the kind of legislation that will make a real difference in the lives of our citizens in Savannah and around the state. On behalf of Georgians impacted by dementia, the Alzheimer’s Association, and my own family, I urge you to sign on to this vital and much needed legislation today. Thank you for your support.

Patricia Hewitt, Richmond Hill.